A Most Interesting Night
by Rebirth of the Phoenix
Summary: Disrupting the peace, damage to the town’s property and being grossly intoxicated? Could be a problem... Zutara


**As **i-luv-inuyasha1012 **was my 300th reviewer for Lotus Lake, I offered her a request fic. She asked for a situation where Zuko and Katara get stuck somewhere and have to help each other. This is the result and I hope you enjoy!**

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_A Most Interesting Night_

Katara elbowed her way through the heaving crowd, mentally cursing Aang for stopping in this town.

On their way to Ba Sing Se, the young Airbender had found a poster advertising a street festival. It was amazing how Aang could merely land Appa so the group could get some rest, and end up convincing the rest of his companions that they should take a night out of travelling ,"because we're ahead of schedule anyway."

So here they were, Sokka, Aang, Toph and herself. Well to be more precise here she was. Shortly after they had arrived at the town (and made sure that the festival wasn't another anti-Avatar celebration), Aang and Toph had gone to watch an Earthbending display.

After the two twelve year old had disappeared from sight, having made arrangements to meet back at Appa when the festival wound down, Katara and Sokka had submerged themselves in the festivities.

The siblings had wandered around for a while until they had stumbled upon a street performance. Katara had watched with mild interest as the costumed performers re-enacted what appeared to be a famous battle from the town's history. She had quickly lost her focus however, when the performance involved nothing more than the actors walloping one another with various 'weapons'.

Sokka, unsurprisingly, was enthralled and Katara didn't have the heart to drag him away.

So that was the reason why Katara was currently pushing through the laughing, chattering crowd on her own. She had a hard time clearing a path, s the rest of the people seemed to be oblivious to her. She managed to push her way into a new street and stopped.

Katara quickly took in her surroundings, and saw that she was surrounded entirely by red faced men. From the way they were swaying as they walked, and from their rowdy singing, she deduced that nearly all of them were drunk.

_Actually, make that completely sloshed and hammered. _Katara thought as she watched a man throw up in his straw hat.

Looking up and down the street she slapped a hand to her forehead. Of all the streets she could have walked into, she had to pick the one that held the town's tavern and inn.

The intoxicated men stood all along the street, swaying to the distant music that musicians played in the town square. She rolled her eyes towards the night sky and shook her head. The village had been decorated very nicely; with lanterns strung all along the streets and the festival seemed to have attracted people from all around the surrounding area. The streets were fit to burst and Katara, being one of the youngest people she had seen out for the nights festivities, was constantly being pushed to and fro.

She quickly decided that I would be easier to go back the way she came, rather than push her way through a hoard of drunken men.

Turning on her heel Katara promptly bumped into a rather robust man carrying a large earthen tankard. Whatever had been in the tankard was tipped down the man's front and he blinked in intoxicated confusion.

Before he had a chance to spot Katara, she pushed her way through a crowd of people a her side. She realised that she was going further into the sprawling, drunken mass of people, but she would rather not face a man who looked like he could flick her away with his thumb and forefinger.

Sure enough, Katara was barely a few feet away when she heard an angry and slurred voice.

"Tha' were me drink! You dirty rat better buy me another!"

Turning her head, Katara saw the enraged man lift another, rather smaller and scared, man from the ground by the collar of his shirt, and land a punch to his jaw.

Katara winced as the man went sprawling to the floor and she desperately tried to escape from the proverbial tin of sardines. Her attempts were stopped by several voices.

"FIGHT!"

Katara's eyes widened in horror as the males surrounding her all cheered and launched themselves at one another.

The crowd became a flurry of fists and feet and Katara came close to loosing her head several times; she couldn't tell which way was out anymore. I an effort to clear a path, she opened her water skin planning to fight her way out.

Katara screamed in surprise as someone smashed into her and sent her sprawling into the dirty ground. The precious water spilled rapidly from her open water skin and onto the cool ground she lay across. Shifting to her knees, she raised a hand to gather her water, when a large bare foot (no doubt an Earthbender) stepped straight into the puddle, barely missing her outstretched fingers. Groaning (and realising that she valued her fingers more than the water) she lowered her hand, focusing on getting up off of the floor.

Try as she might, the fighting crowd wouldn't let up enough to allow her to get back on her feet. Katara conceived defeat and doubled herself over on the floor, protecting her stomach and holding her head.

She listened to the sounds of the fight and prayed to the havens above that she wouldn't get trampled. She winced when she realised that she was the one who started this whole thing (accidentally of course).

She was drawn from her thoughts when something knocked into her side and fell across her back. Peeking up she saw that she had just inadvertently tripped up a man dressed in the usual colours of the Earth Kingdom. He was sprawled on his front and appeared to be knocked out.

Katara bit her lip, extra guilt washing over her. She began crawling, trying to find a way out of the undulating mass. The forest of legs was constantly moving and Katara only prayed that she wouldn't get kicked in the mouth.

Feeling that she was making good progress, Katara let out a sigh of relief. She could see patches of the edges of the street from between legs now and she was ecstatic that she would be getting out of the madness soon.

That was the last clear thought Katara had before she heard a great bellowing from above her. Looking up she let out an unheard scream as a group of fighting men tripped and fell on her.

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Katara awoke feeling decidedly beat up. Her head ached all down the right side and her entire back felt like someone had tried to tenderise it. She felt her left cheek pressed onto something itchy. Groaning, she peeled her eyes open and found she was in a very small, very dim room.

She was lying close to the ground on a thin mattress that was covered by a material that felt a lot like straw. Letting out another groan she rolled over and stood on shaky legs. The room she was in was made up of three stone walls; the last wall was nothing more than a row of metal bars. Katara walked over to the thin columns of metal and ran a smooth hand along the length of them. They were just like any other bars you might find in a prison cell. Prison cell… heavens above, she was in prison!

Katara looked through the bars as best she could and saw that the cell opposite hers was occupied; a shadowed form lay on one of the thin mats.

She peered to the right of her cell and was met by a rough stone wall; she was at the very end of the row of cells.

Looking to the left she saw that there were about half a dozen other cells next to hers, and the same amount again on the opposite side of the corridor. It was impossible to know how many there were for sure because of the odd angle she was looking from. From the cells to her left she could hear heavy snoring and the occasional grunt. The whole place reeked of alcohol.

The corridor was dark. There was a window on the wall to her right; well, it was not so much of a window as a slit in the hard stone. The thin shaft of moonlight spread very little illumination through the dank passage and cells; Katara could barely make out the cell opposite hers.

Sighing heavily, she turned away from the bars and sat on the cold flagstone flooring. She rested her back against the wall opposite the bars and lightly banged her head against the stone behind her, muttering to herself all the while.

_Thud_

"Stupid."

_Thud_

"Damned."

_Thud_

"Son of a -"

"Would you stop that? It gets very annoying."

Katara froze in her repetitions and peered through the darkness. She could hear movements in the cell opposite, but the dark was too thick for her to see anything. Scrambling to her feet, Katara gripped the metal bars, trying to get a clear picture of whoever was talking.

The voice was definitely male, by the sound of it the speaker was reaching maturity, and Katara couldn't help but think she had heard it before. The light was too insubstantial for Katara to see clearly, but she could make out a crouched figure leaning against a wall, their right side facing her.

Katara hesitated, she didn't usually make a habit of talking to strange men she met in prison cells; then again, this situation was anything but usual. "Were you talking to me?"

She saw the dark figure shift slightly. "Do you notice anyone else trying to concuss themselves?"

Katara bristled slightly. Absolutely fabulous, what seemed to be the only person who wasn't snoring or in the land of nod had an attitude problem. Pride getting the better of her, Katara turned away from the bars and returned to the back of her cell.

Several minutes passed in silence with the occasional snore thrown in for good measure. Katara was sure that she was going to die of boredom. Shifting her weight, she stood up and paced the perimeter of her cell. She quickly realised that there were no cracks, gaps or any other flaws in the cell's design that would allow her to escape. On her seventh circuit of the cell (she had nothing better to do than walk) the creaking of hinges interrupted the heavy silence of the night.

Katara paused and listened as a pair of footsteps made their way down the row of cells, occasionally pausing for a moment before continuing. She gathered that there was a door that lay out of sight from her cell, and that said door must join the prison cells to the rest of the building that she was currently trapped in; and that would mean at the person strolling towards her cell was one of the people responsible for her imprisonment.

Katara stepped backwards, further into the shadows and away from the bars of her cell, and waited for her captor to appear. Sure enough a large figure blocked out the little light that penetrated the cell and a throaty chuckle drowned out the snoring of Katara's neighbours.

"So I see that someone is actually awake?"

Katara could only see a sliver of the left side of the man, the moonlight did little to show his features. What she could gather though, was that he was an Earthbender, she could see that his feet were bare. Stubbornly she stood in the shadows, as far way from the bender as possible; she was having rather bitter feelings towards the people who had locked her up.

"Shy are we? I was just curious to know what a Water Tribe girl was doing in a street full of drunken men." The stranger in the cell opposite hers shifted slightly.

Katara raised an eyebrow, curious indeed; she wouldn't trust this man as far as she could throw him. She was well aware of the creeps who claimed to be part of the Earth Kingdom army while the true soldiers were away at war.

"Come on, I don't bite -"

"Leave her alone."

Both Katara and the Earthbender turned their heads to the direction of the voice. Katara recognised the annoyed voice as belonging to the man in the cell opposite her. She was thrown that he would actually speak up in her defence.

The Earthbender diverted his attention away from Katara. "So you've woken up too? I'm surprised, I would've thought that blow to the head would have had you out for a few more hours. Well have fun kiddies, you're going to be here for a while or until someone comes to collect you."

"What for?" Katara burst out. She did not plan on staying in imprisoned for much longer.

The Earthbender began retreating from the cells. "Disrupting the peace, damage to the town's property and being grossly intoxicated."

Katara's mouth dropped open and she moved closer to the bars. "But I wasn't even dunk!"

The only answer she received was the sound of a slamming door. "Hey! I'm not through talking to you!"

She would have continued shouting had she not been interrupted yet again.

"Water Tribe?"

Her eyes flicked towards the shadow cell opposite. The man (or boy, she wasn't entirely sure) had stood up and moved closer to the bars; Katara could see he was wearing green and brown robes, obviously Earth Kingdom then, but his face was still cast in shadow.

"Excuse me?"

"You are from the Water Tribe?"

"Yes," Katara replied warily. "What business is it of yours?"

A moments pause. "No need to be so defensive, I was just wandering what a girl like yourself was doing so far away from home."

Katara's eyes narrowed, she was sure that she had heard this man's voice before, but who in the Earth Kingdom did she know well enough to remember their voice? Well it certainly wasn't King Bumi - the voice was much younger. Katara was sure she would be able to cancel Jet's smooth voice out (how could she forget?) and Haru's tones were much too soft to belong to the man opposite her.

"So are you a Waterbender?"

Katara was sure she would be stuck with a permanent squint if she narrowed her eyes any further. "I am."

"What's your name?"

Katara relaxed a little. This man was suspicious, no doubt about it, but that didn't mean she couldn't play him at his own game.

"You sure are chatty ever since you found out I was from the Water Tribe."

There was another moment of silence before a very levelled voice replied, "I'm just curious, you don't meet many members of the Water Tribe around here."

"Oh, so you're a local?"

"Not really, more of a traveller"

In the darkness, a smirk grew on Katara's face. "Well from one traveller to another, may I have your name before parting with my own?"

"You can call me… Li."

"Does everyone else call you Li or is that what you've told me?"

"My name is Li."

Katara's eyebrows rose in surprise. That last sentence was spat out with such defence and forcefulness - it reminded her strongly of… no, it couldn't be, could it?

"I still don't know your name."

She sighed, might as well throw him the bait. "Katara."

"So Katara, who are you travelling with?"

Her guard instantly flew up. "Why would I be travelling with anyone?"

Yet another silence befell the pair before Li answered. "Well I doubt you'd be so far north without company."

So far north? Katara's eyes widened dramatically, she had never told 'Li' that she was from the Southern Water Tribe, but he had a pretty good idea how he knew where she was from.

"I travel with my brother and an Earthbender." Katara had purposely left out the fact that she travelled with the Avatar. She expected another silence while 'Li' contemplated his next move, but the next question burst from his mouth.

"You travel with no one else?"

Katara smirked widely. She knew it! She could hear the desperation in his voice; she knew he knew she was lying. Oh how the mighty had fallen, and 'Li' had just told Katara everything she needed to have a little fun of her own. After all, it was deathly boring being locked in cell with nothing more to do than get a little payback.

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Zuko could not believe he was in prison with the Avatar's Waterbender. He had hoped to learn more about the Avatar and his potential plan but the girl was smart (as far as peasants go at least) and had let nothing slip.

"So Li," Zuko focused on the girl once again. "I don't think you're drunk, so what are you doing locked up in here?"

Zuko scowled at the memory. "I was looking for my Un- I mean, my travelling companion and I thought he might be at the tavern. Unfortunately for me, I was half way down the street when a brawl broke out. I ended up tripping over some idiot who was crouching on the floor and I was knocked out."

Zuko heard the Waterbender cough uncomfortably and let a rather nervous giggle slip past her lips. "Imagine that. Yes I was knocked out by the drunks too."

"Why were you near the tavern I would have thought you were too young to drink."

"And what makes you think I'm young?"

Zuko mentally kicked himself. Had he let anything else slip that showed he knew who this girl was? No of course not, he'd remember wouldn't he?

"Oh I don't know, I suppose it's your voice." he wondered briefly whether he could back out this conversation, but he still wanted find out about the Avatar; the boy was obviously in the town, and besides the girl could be useful in an attempt to escape.

"Well I was just walking through the town when I stumbled into the wrong street and got caught up in the fight. Li tell me, are you a bender?"

Zuko's guard went up. "Why?"

"Oh I was just thinking that if you could Earthbend, you might be able to break the bars or something."

"Well I'm not an Earthbender."

The girls voice sounded rather amused when she spoke next. "But you are a bender?"

Damn it. He'd walked right into that one. "Yes."

"Well you obviously aren't an Airbender and I doubt you're a Waterbender, I guess that means you're a Firebender?"

Zuko could really see no way out of this one, but surprisingly, the girl didn't seem scared or annoyed that there was a Firebender standing a few feet from her.

"Yes I am."

He watched as the Waterbender closed the gap between herself and the bars. "Well you obviously aren't a member of the Fire Navy so I guess you're not much of a threat." Zuko bristled. "Besides I've dealt with the Prince the Fire Nation before."

"Really? What was he like?" Zuko wanted to hear what the peasant had to say about him.

"A real hot head, if you'll excuse the pun, and I suppose he's a good fighter but I still managed to kick his butt."

Zuko scowled. "Yeah while we were sounded by snow," he mumbled.

"What was that?" The girl sounded immensely happy for some reason.

"Nothing."

"Li, do you think that you can give us some light here? I'd like to see who I'm talking to."

Zuko stiffened. "I'd rather not."

"Why?"

"Because if the guards find out that I'm a Firebender, I'll probably end up hanging from the gallows by dawn." He conveniently left out the fact that he didn't want her to see his face.

"Fair enough. I don't suppose you have any idea how to get out of here?"

"None. Can't your Waterbending help?"

The girl sighed. "Maybe but I lost my water skin when everyone was fighting."

"Great." Zuko hoped that his Uncle hadn't run into any trouble. Especially not trouble in the form of his oh so lovely little sister. He was distracted slightly by a deep roll of thunder. The air had been humid all day and a little rain was definitely on the cards. Sure enough droplets of water began their steady beat on the ground outside. A fine spray of water made it's way through the high set window in the wall.

He looked back towards the girl's cell. She had moved further away from the bars and he couldn't make her out in the shadows.

"Hey!"

He received no answer.

"Hey you! Girl!"

"You are being really rude you know. I told you my name and you've yet to use it."

Zuko still couldn't see her in the darkness but he was sure she was smirking. "Fine, Katara. It's raining."

"And?"

"And it's water."

She moved to the bars, he could see her bright eyes flashing in the dark. "Yes, but how do you propose I escape with just water?"

Zuko scowled. "If only I had a stick."

Katara snorted. "A stick would help you escape?"

"Not just the stick! If we drenched my shirt the cloth would gain strength. Then you use the stick as leverage while you use the shirt to bend the bars."

"Well we have no stick. These bars look quite old, they're rusty enough at least. I suppose they might break if I froze them and hit them hard enough."

A pause. "Well, why don't you?"

"I have nothing to hit the bars with."

Zuko ran a hand down his face. "Freeze my bars and then I will break them."

"Why do you get to go first?"

"Are you trying to be difficult?" Zuko ground out between his teeth.

"Fine. But you'll probably just leave me here anyway."

Zuko watched as half a dozen long streams of water flowed from the window and onto the central bars in front of him. He heard Katara exhale and the ice froze solid.

He took a step backwards and inhaled deeply. He saw Katara freezing her own bars in anticipation of his help.

With a graceful arc of his leg two of the bars were shot out of the frame with a groaning crunch. He heard the girl's angry protests as the shattered metal collided with her own cell. Zuko could hear the rapid shuffling of feet, no doubt the guards had heard the bars breaking.

Another kick created a gap wide enough for him to fit through and he took off down the corridor.

"Hey!" He disregarded Katara's angry shouts and rather colourful insults (did her brother teach her those words?) and headed for the door at the end of the corridor.

Before he could even lay a finger on the handle, the door burst open and three guards stood in his way.

Not a problem. A piece of earth rose up from the ground and dug into Zuko's stomach. He was flung backwards and came to a skidding halt, on his back, in front of Katara's cell. Ok, so maybe this was a problem.

He scrambled to his feet and glanced at the girl. She was currently storming around her cell, apparently oblivious to the commotion going on next to her; either that or she didn't care.

"I knew it! I knew you were going to run you creep!"

He turned his head so she couldn't see his face; he still needed her cooperation after all. He ducked to dodge a large rock. "Shut up and stand back!"

The girl scrambled away from the front of the cell and Zuko swung his leg around and shattered the frozen central bars. Luckily she was so slight, she slipped through the bars and Zuko pushed her in front of him. He wasn't hiding behind her of course, he just didn't want her to see him.

Katara seemed to have no problem with being at the forefront of the fight, she merely bended a glob of water in front of her and settled into her bending stance.

"You know," she threw over her shoulder. "These guys won't get a chance to hang you from the gallows if you use your bending to knock them out."

Zuko flicked his eyes between Katara and the Earthbenders before him and decided she was right (not that he would tell her that of course).

The guards, obviously expecting an attack from a Waterbender and not the wall of fire approaching them, were down for the count in moments; not seriously hurt of course, just a little singed.

Zuko followed Katara out of the cell block, and marvelled at the drunken men who had barely stirred during the little bending bout, he made a mental note never to drink.

They came through the rest of the (small) building without incident and emerged into the downpour outside. Zuko made sure Katara stayed in front of him and together they race from the jail house. They hurried through the maze of streets (slightly perplexed as they were both unconscious on their way to the cells).

After a few minutes wandering they found the main street and saw the festival was still going on, although it was dwindling a little because of the rain. They would have continued down the street had they not noticed a posse of Earth Kingdom guards making their way back towards the jail; he recognised the man in front to be the guard who had first entered the cell and spoke to Katara, he had obviously gone to get help when he heard Zuko break the bars.

Zuko cursed and grabbed Katara's arm. Pulling her behind him, he darted into an alleyway and pushed Katara into the wall. He lowered his face to her shoulder to hide his scar from both her and the approaching guards, and felt her shiver as his breath traced patterns on her neck. He was well aware that this was the closest he had ever been to a girl, but when you have said girl pressed against a wall in order to escape certain punishment, the romantic edge somewhat dampened.

The heavy footsteps of the Earthbenders paused at the entrance to the alleyway and a few catcalls and whistles were sent their way; obviously they thought Zuko was doing something other than hiding his scar.

A gruff "Come on," signalled their departure.

Zuko quickly straightened out and turned to face the shadowy depths of the alley. He wanted to find the Avatar, but now that he had used his Firebending, he would have to find his Uncle and leave the town as soon as possible.

From the corner of his eye he saw Katara move away from the wall. "Well I'm going back to the main street to find my friends."

Zuko nodded. "I'm going this way," he nodded his head towards the alley, unsure whether she could see him or not. "I have to find my companion too."

He began walking further away from the lights of the main street when Katara's voice stopped him.

"Oh, and Li? Tell your Uncle I said hello."

Zuko whipped around, only to see that Katara had already disappeared from view. Surely not? He shook his head and melted into the shadows. All in all it had been a most interesting night.

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**I have to thank this chapter, I forced myself to write it and it seems that it has cured my writer's block. Now maybe I can update my other stories!**

**So the whole thing was Zutara centric and yet not too much fluff… Well as I said, when you're hiding from the 'fuzz' I doubt making out is going to be the first thing on your mind! **

**I like how it turned out anyway, this must be the longest one-shot I've written but I'm happy with it all in all.**

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


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